^All. 


Compliments  of  the  Scripps  Institution 


1  p- 


*  >  P  ,  V!  '  *»  '.  ■ 

Jr  ^  o  Jn*.i } 


rCR 

li;oL^>SICAL  REcEAPC' 


/  /  Ci? 


MARCH  15,  1918 


No.  5 


BULLETIN 

OF  THE 

SCRIPPS  INSTITUTION  FOR  BIOLOGICAL  RESEARCH 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


THE  RESOURCES  OF  THE  NORTH  PACIFIC 
OCEAN:  THEIR  EXTENT,  UTILIZA¬ 
TION  AND  CONSERVATION 


BY 

WILLIAM  E.  RITTER 


THE  RESOURCES  OF  THE  NORTH  PACIFIC 
OCEAN:  THEIR  EXTENT,  UTILIZA¬ 
TION  AND  CONSERVATION 

By  william  E.  RITTER 


1.  Introductory  statement. 

2.  Standpoint  of  the  discussion. 

3.  Summary  of  North  Pacific  productions  already  utilized  to  some 

extent. 

4.  Special  remarks  on  the  food  and  a  few  other  resources  of  the  area. 

5.  The  question  of  permanence  of  such  resources. 

6.  Some  typical  questions  of  abundance  and  conservation. 

7.  Is  the  North  Pacific  as  productive  from  .the  fisheries  standpoint  as 

the  North  Atlantic? 

8.  Extensive  scientific  research  the  only  way  to  answer  the  above 

question. 


1.  INTEODUCTOEY  STATEMENT 

In  accordance  with  a  recommendation  by  the  Committee  on  Zoolog¬ 
ical  Investigation  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Research  Conference,  working 
in  co-operation  with  the  Committee  of  Scientific  Research  of  the  State 
Council  of  Defense  of  California,  the  Research  Conference  adopted 
the  following  resolution  at  its  meeting  of  November  24,  1917 : 

Resolution  in  Regard  to  Problems  op  North  Pacific 

Whereas,  the  world-war  has  brought  home  to  us  as  never  before 
a  realization  of  the  necessity  of  full  and  accurate  knowledge  of  our 
food  resources  and  the  necessity  of  developing  and  utilizing  these 
resources  to  the  maximum  extent  compatible  with  their  adequate 
conservation ;  and 

Whereas,  our  knowledge  of  the  fishery  resources  of  the  North 
Pacific  is  very  imperfect  and  wholly  inadequate  to  serve  as  a  basis 
for  trustworthy  conclusions  as  to  the  extent  and  permanence  of 
these  resources,  or  as  to  what  is  necessary  for  their  preservation ; 
therefore,  be  it 

Resolved  by  the  Committee  on  Zoological  Investigations  of  the 
Scientific  Research  Conference  of  the  State  Council  of  Defense  of 
California  that  the  proper  department  or  departments  of  the 
United  States  Government  be  urged  to  take  such  steps  as  may  be 
necessary  to  provide  for  a  comprehensive  and  thorough  exploration 

3 


of  the  Pacific  with  a  view  to  the  development,  greater  utilization, 
and  adequate  conservation  of  its  fishery  resources  of  whatever  kind, 
and  that,  if  possible,  such  exploration  be  undertaken  in  co-operation 
with  other  governments  possessing  territory  bordering  the  Pacific 
Ocean. 

The  aim  of  the  paper  herewith  presented  is  twofold.  It  is,  first, 
to  give  in  very  general  terms  certain  reflections  induced  by  the  author ’s 
contact  with  the  rapidly  developing  fisheries  and  kelp  industries  of 
the  California  coast  during  the  last  few  years,  especially  since  the 
United  States  entered  the  war ;  and,  second,  to  make  such  presentation 
weigh  as  an  argument  on  behalf  of  the  resolution  above  quoted. 

I  wish  to  call  special  attention  to  the  fact  that  while  the  paper 
naturally  restricts  itself  almost  entirely  to  the  scientific  and  economic 
aspects  of  the  subject,  I  recognize  the  legal  and  political  aspects  of  it, 
especially  as  these  involve  international  relations^  to  be  quite  as  far 
reaching  in  possibilities  as  are  the  scientific  and  economic  aspects. 

It  is  a  cherished  hope  of  the  writer  that  what  is  here  said  may  catch 
the  attention  of  some  one  competent  to  treat  the  other  aspects  and  that 
such  a  treatment  will  be  forthcoming  in  the  near  future. 

At  no  time,  probably,  in  the  whole  history  of  the  human  race  have 
such  numbers  of  it,  both  as  to  groups  and  as  to  individuals,  been 
brought  into  such  vital  relations  with  one  another  in  so  many  partic¬ 
ulars  as  are  involved  in  the  present  gigantic  struggle  at  arms.  "What 
will  come  of  it  alH 

Is  it  chimerical  to  hope  that  the  unifying  forces  rooted  in  what  is 
common  to  the  whole  race,  now  so  potent  among  the  hundreds  of 
millions  of  Europeans,  Americans  and  Asiatics  at  war  with  the  Central 
Powers,  may  be  carried  over  to  some  extent  into  the  post-bellum  era 
as  a  beneficent  legacy  of  the  war?  ^ 

The  extent  fo  which  science  has  contributed  and  is  contributing  to 
the  incalculable  destruction  and  misery  which  civilization  has  brought 
upon  itself  is  certainly  one  of  the  impressive  lessons  of  this  conflict. 

But  science  will  have  to  play  as  large  a  part  in  the  period  of  recon¬ 
struction  which  must  follow  as  it  is  playing  in  that  of  destruction 
which  is  now  upon  us. 

The  needs  and  opportunities  pointed  out  and  the  proposals  made 
in  the  paper  accord  with  this  constructive  function  of  science,  and 
it  is  earnestly  hoped  that  in  the  near  future,  if  not  just  now,  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  acting  through  their  National  Government,  will 
make  it  possible  to  carry  out  some  such  enterprise  as  that  suggested. 

2.  STANDPOINT  OF  THE  DISCUSSION 

The  subject  is  viewed  as  one  small  aspect  of  the  general  problem  of 
the  actual  j^hysical  needs  of  civilized  man. 

4 


The  assumption  is  that  civilization  will  continue  to  advance,  that 
this  will  involve  the  continued  growth  of  populations,  and  that  this 
growth  will  necessitate  finally  a  requisitioning  of  the  latent  resources 
of  the  whole  earth  to  meet  the  necessities  of  peoples,  as  distinguished 
from  their  ambitions  for  gain. 

These  assumptions  are  justified  by  the  facts  of  history  and  the 
nature  of  man. 

Though  healthy  advance  in  civilization  by  a  people  whose  death 
rate  exceeds  or  equals  its  birth  rate  is  conceivable,  the  history  of 
human  culture  probably  does  not  furnish  an  instance  of  such  a  thing. 
Anyway  the  well  nigh  universal  rule  is  that  peoples  showing  a  vigorous 
cultui'al  growth  show  also  vigorous  numerical  growth. 

Illustrations  are  numerous. 

Europe’s  population  more  than  doubled  during  the  ninety-year 
period,  1801  to  1891  (175,000,000  in  1801 ;  357,000,000  in  1891),  prob¬ 
ably  very  little  of  the  growth  being  due  to  immigration.  Besides  this 
addition  to  her  own  numbers,  the  little  continent  furnished  many 
millions,  some  25  or  30  at  least,  to  other  continents,  particularly  to 
the  Americas,  Australia  and  Africa. 

The  very  countries  which  have  been  front  and  center  of  the  world’s 
later  progress  in  civilization  have  been  also  the  swarmers  for  peopling 
the  earth.  But  the  case  of  Europe  does  not  stand  alone.  The  most 
advanced  of  all  Oriental  nations,  the  Japanese,  are  still  more  prolific. 
At  present  this  nation  is  said  to  be  doubling  its  population  in  about 
fifty,  instead  of  ninety,  years. 

Til  ere  are  now  undoubted  signs  that  growth  in  civilization  is  to 
some  extent  a  check  on  fertility,  and  consequently  that  such  rapid 
increase  of  population  of  civilized  countries  as  has  characterized  the 
later  centuries  will  not  be  kept  up.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
staying  of  disease,  famine,  and  infanticide,  which  in  the  past  have 
been  potent  in  keeping  down  population,  are  among  the  most  prized 
and  distinctive  marks  of  progress.  And  now  comes  the  possibility 
that  the  near  future  will  see  war,  the  fourth  great  check  on  population, 
shorn  of  its  truly  devastating  power.  All  in  all,  the  conclusion  seems 
unescapable  that  high  and  ever  higher  world  civilization  implies  large 
and  ever  larger  world  population. 

Having  regard  to  these  facts  of  population  and  to  the  limited  size 
of  the  earth,  and  reflecting  that  advance  in  civilization  is  conditioned 
on  nothing  less  than  ever  increasing  richness  of  human  life — improv¬ 
ing  physical  health,  and  never  ceasing  intellectual,  moral,  esthetic  and 
religious  growth — and  how  avoid  recognizing  that  in  the  future  all 
economic  endeavor  and  much  of  political  endeavor  will  have  to  concern 
themselves  far  more  positively  and  directly  with  the  indispensable 
requisites  of  the  great  rank  and  file  of  populations  than  they  have  in 
the  past  ? 


5 


There  can  be  no  question  that  the  demand  for  greater  world  de¬ 
mocratization,  which  has  become  the  battle  cry  for  all  nations  now 
fighting  German  autocracy  and*  miltiarism,  is  also  the  watchword  of 
a  great  forward  move  in  world  civilization,  and  that  one  element  in 
the  success  of  the  movement  would  be  the  death  knell  not  only  of 
irresponsible  political  rule  but  as  well  of  irresponsible  economic  ex¬ 
ploitation. 

The  indubitable  needs  of  civilized  peoples  which  in  future  will  be 
the  great  inspiration  of  political  action  will  have  to  oppose  ambition 
for  material  wealth  hardly  less  stoutly  and  vigilantly  than  it  will  have 
to  oppose  ambition  for  dynastic  and  militaristic  power.  And  this  will 
bring  a  change  over  nearly  the  whole  of  economic  theory,  purpose  and 
method. 

Among  the  foremost  of  these  changes  one  will  concern  the  way  the 
3^et  undeveloped  resources  of  nature  are  viewed.  Science  under  gov¬ 
ernmental  support  rather  than  private  industrial  enterprise  will  be¬ 
come  more  and  more  the  exploratory  agency  of  latent  economic  re¬ 
sources,  and  developmental  projects  will  be  timed  and  carried  out  as 
far  as  possible  in  accordance  with  needs  as  calculated  on  scientific 
rather  than  wealth-yielding  principles. 

Another  of  the  changes  will  affect  the  terms  in  which  resources 
are  expressed.  These  terms  will  be  more  and  more  those  of  use  values 
rather  than  of  money  values.  Treatises  on  industrial  production  and 
trade  will  be  more  concerned  about  the  articles  made  and  bought  and 
sold,  their  quantity  and  uses,  and  less  about  their  trade  prices  and 
money  values.  The  experiences  of  the  great  war  are  indicative  of 
what  the  future  has  in  store  for  the  world  in  this  respect.  The  public 
will  of  course  always  be  much  concerned  about  the  price  of  commod¬ 
ities,  but  it  will  become  likewise  more  solicitous  about  questions  of 
source  and  suppl^q  and  will  think  more  about  the  significance  of  price 
as  an  indication  of  supply  than  it  has  been  wont  to  do.  I  mention 
these  two  particular  changes  of  viewpoint  because  they  will  be  reflected 
in  the  discussion  which  follows. 

The  landed  areas  of  the  earth  undoubtedly  always  will  be,  as  they 
always  have  been,  the  main  sources  of  the  food,  clothing  and  other 
material  goods  needed  by  man ;  so  agriculture,  mining,  water-power 
development,  lumbering,  and  so  on,  will  probably  ever  be  the  supreme 
raw-material  industries  and  sciences. 

But — and  we  here  approach  our  subject  proper — the  waters  of  the 
earth — the  rivers,  lakes  and  oceans — are  now  well  known  to  science 
to  be  capable  of  yielding  vastly  greater  quantities  of  food  and  other 
necessaries  of  human  well-being  than  have  yet  been  developed.  Sir 
John  Murray,  one  of  the  most  learned  of  all  students  of  the  sea  and 
its  inhabitants,  expressed  the  view  that  the  total  organic  productivity 
of  the  earth’s  waters  is  probably  considerably  greater  than  the  total 

6 


productivity  of  its  lands.  Now  any  one  acquainted  with  the  uni¬ 
formity  there  is  in  the  basic  substances  of  all  life  cannot  fail  to  recog¬ 
nize,  on  a  little  reflection,  something  of  what  this  productivity  of  the 
waters  means  in  the  way  of  possible  sources  of  human  food.  It  means 
that  under  anything  like  great  pressure  of  population  on  food  supply 
it  would  be  only  a  question  for  science  and  industry  to  find  ways  of 
utilizing  these  resources. 

And  here  we  come  upon  a  very  important  aspect  of  science's  part 
in  solving  the  problem  of  supplying  man’s  physical  needs,  namely,  its 
part  in  molding  custom  in  accordance  with  reason  and  definite  knowl¬ 
edge,  rather  than  permitting  it  to  be  determined  by  whim  and  preju¬ 
dice  and  fashion  and  trade  interests. 

The  experimental  food  laboratory  will  undoubtedly  play  a  much 
larger  part  in  the  future  than  it  has  in  the  past  in  determining  what 
plants  and  animals  are  available  for  human  nutriment.  The  era  of 
deciding  whether  or  not  a  given  animal  is  fit  for  food,  on  the  basis  of 
such  whimsicalities  as  whether  it  chews  the  cud  or  has  cloven  feet,  or 
is  taken  in  a  month  with  no  r  in  it,  is  drawing  to  a  close  for  civilized 
man. 


3.  SUMMAEY  OF  NOETH  PACIFIC  PEODIJCTIONS  ALEFADY  UTILIZED 

TO  SOME  EXTENT 

But  with  the  general  problem  of  resources  of  the  sea  and  human 
needs  we  are  concerned  only  as  a  background  for  treating  a  special 
case.  Our  purpose  is  to  present  a  few  considerations  touching  the 
resources  of  a  single  economic  area,  the  North  Pacific.  An  inventory 
of  resources  of  this  region,  drawn  up  on  the  basis  of  actual  observation 
and  experience,  follows : 

1.  Human  food. 

Fishes:  salmon,  halibut,  cod,  tuna,  sardine,  flounder,  sole,  rockfish,  barra¬ 
cuda,  herring,  bonita,  mackerel,  yellowtail,  sanddab,  grayfish,  smelt, 
swordfish,  anchovy,  cultus  cod,  seabass,  rockbass,  and  many  others  less 
important. 

MollusTcs,  crustaceans,  etc.:  oyster,  crab,  spiny  lobster,  shrimp,  clams  (many 
species);  mussel,  abalone,  squid,  beche-de-mer. 

Turtle. 

Marine  algae:  several  species. 

2.  Agricultural  fertilizers. 

Many  kinds  of  seaweeds,  particularly  kelp,  refuse  from  all  commercial 
fishes,  many  kinds  of  fish  not  utilizable  for  food,  refuse  from  whales, 
turtles  and  fur  seals. 

3.  Food  for  fowls. 

Eefuse  from  commercial  fishes  and  certain  species  of  fishes  not  available 
for  human  food. 


7 


4.  Clothing. 

Fur  seal;  whale,  porpoise  and  shark  skin  for  leather;  sea  otter  for  furs; 
abalone  and  other  mollusk  shells  for  buttons;  marine  algae  for  ban¬ 
doline,  sizing  and  stiffening  for  cloth  and  paper. 

5.  Oils. 

Whales  and  various  species  of  fish. 

6.  Ornamentation  and  industrial  arts. 

Pearl  oyster  and  abalone  for  pearls;  various  molluscan  species  for  shell 
ornaments  and  inlay  work,  shells  for  various  domestic  articles;  sea¬ 
weeds  for  bric-a-brac,  etc. 

7.  Chemicals. 

Algae,  many  species,  for  agar-agar  and  other  gelatine  media,  alginate, 
potash,  iodine,  acetone,  acetate,  ketone,  etc. 


4.  SPECIAL  KEMAEKS  ON  THE  FOOD  AND  A  FEW  OTHER  RESOURCES 

OF  THE  AREA 

By  far  the  most  important  single  food  fish  so  far  utilized  is  the 
salmon.  The  total  product  for  the  whole  Pacific  coast  of  North 
America  from  this  source  for  1915  was  approximately  625,000,000 
pounds  of  fresh  fish. 

There  is  considerable  reason  for  doubting  whether  much  increase 
of  production  from  this  source  is  possible,  or  at  least  practicable.  The 
output  of  the  salmon  industry  has  been,  with  much  fluctuation,  prac¬ 
tically  stationary  for  some  years,  though  the  producing  capacity  of 
the  equipment  engaged  in  the  industry  has  probably  at  no  time  been 
taxed  to  its  limit.  In  other  words,  increase  of  effort  in  the  industry 
would  apparently  not  be  able  to  increase  greatly  the  output. 

The  fish  next  after  the  salmon  in  productivity  is  now,  it  seems,  the 
sardine.  The  pack  of  the  first  six  months  of  1917  was  about  1,800,000 
cases,  giving  a  total  estimated  weight  of  fresh  fish  utilized  for  this 
pack  and  for  other  purposes  of  145,000,000  pounds.  There  is  no  doubt 
about  the  possibility  of  further  increase  of  product  from  this  fishery. 
Mr.  N.  B.  Scofield  of  the  California  State  Pish  and  Game  Commission 
has  expressed  the  view  that  the  California  fishery  will  soon  equal,  at 
least,  that  of  Maine,  which  is  about  2,500,000  cases  annually. 

After  the  sardine,  perhaps  the  most  productive  single  species  is 
the  halibut  of  the  Washington-British  Columbia-Alaska  coast.  This 
is  in  the  main  a  fresh  and  frozen  producy  industr}^  and  bulk  weights 
are  given.  The  figures  are  for  1915:  Oregon-Washington-British 
Columbia  to  Alaska,  56,250,000  pounds  fresh  fish.  The  future  possi¬ 
bilities  of  this  source  of  fish  food  is  problematical.  As  we  shall  see 
later,  an  urgent  problem  of  conservation  is  already  on  hand  in  con¬ 
nection  with  this  fish. 

Very  close  in  importance  to  the  halibut  as  a  food  fish  conies  the 
long-finned  tuna,  or  albacore,  of  the  southern  and  Lower  California 


8 


coast.  Indeed,  if  along  with  this  species  there  is  taken  its  several 
relatives — the  bonita,  the  yellow-finned  tuna,  the  chub  mackerel,  and 
the  yellowtail — and  prospective  as  well  as  actual  production  be  consid¬ 
ered,  the  group  may  turn  out  to  be  second  to  the  salmon  only  in 
importance.  Four  hundred  thousand  cases,  or  about  48,000,000  pounds 
of  fresh  fish,  is  the  estimated  pack  for  1917.  There  is  no  question  that 
with  improved  methods  of  fishing  the  product  from  this  source  would 
be  greatly  increased — doubled  at  least.  By  far  the  larger  part  of  the 
quantity  now  produced  is  from  one  species,  the  long-finned  tuna. 
But  two  or  three  of  the  related  species  are  probably  not  less  abundant, 
so  only  await  exploitation. 

This  very  imperfect  statement  of  a  few  of  the  main  sources  of 
fishery  foods  now  yielded  by  the  northeastern  Pacific  must  suffice  for 
the  analytic  part  of  our  treatment.  The  estimated  grand  total  animal 
product,  that  is,  the  product  including  not  only  the  portion  we  have 
partially  analyzed,  but  all  the  rest,  will  conclude  this  part  of  our  story. 
According  to  Mr.  P.  W.  Bailey,  formerly  secretary  of  the  California 
State  Pish  Exchange,  about  100,000,000  pounds,  or  50,000  tons,  of 
food  fish  were  handled  by  the  commercial  fisheries  of  California  alone 
during  the  year  1916. 

Prom  all  these  figures  and  others  not  here  used  it  appears  that 
the  total  fresh  fish  production  of  the  Pacific  coast  is  now  not  far  under 
1,000,000,000  pounds  annually.  Considering  the  imperfect  state  of 
development  of  several  of  the  fisheries  contributing  to  the  present 
output,  notably  the  cod  and  herring  fisheries  of  Alaska,  and  the  bonita, 
mackerel,  yellowtail,  barracuda,  and  anchovy  fisheries  of  southern  and 
Lower  California,  and  the  obvious  possibilities  of  several  animals, 
notably  the  squid,  the  mussel,  the  turtle  of  Lower  California,  and  the 
fur  seal,  the  porpoise  and  the  whale,  now  practically  untouched  for 
food,  it  is  not  beyond  bounds  to  estimate  that  this  could  be  doubled 
during  the  next  ten  years,  and  the  total  for  the  coast  brought  to 
2,000,000,000  pounds,  or  1,000,000  tons,  annually  were  there  real 
demand  for  such  a  quantity. 

Casting  up  the  whole  account,  actual  and  prospective,  of  meat 
food  production  from  the  ocean  of  this  part  of  the  earth,  and  speaking 
in  the  light  of  experience  with  fishery  food  by  such  peoples  as  the 
Scandinavians  and  the  Japanese,  we  shall  be  on  safe  ground  if  we 
say  that  were  the  land-produced  meat  supply  of  North  America  to 
become  seriously  insufficient  for  the  population,  the  deficiency  could 
be  made  good  to  a  large  extent  from  the  fisheries ;  and  to  the  supplying 
of  this  deficiency  the  fisheries  of  the  Pacific  could  contribute  their 
proportion.  Thus  is  brought  to  our  attention  in  a  rough  and  ready, 
though  I  believe  entirely  trustworthy  way,  a  large,  readily  available 
supplement  to  this  continent’s  meat  supply. 


9 


Nor  is  it  to  be  forgotten  that  America’s  part  of  the  great  ocean 
has  long  contributed,  is  now  contributing,  and  unquestionably  might 
contribute  in  still  larger  measure  to  satisfying  other  needs  of  man 
than  that  of  food.  Details  on  this  aspect  of  our  subject,  though  full 
of  interest,  must  be  even  more  summary  than  that  on  food. 

Barely  touching  the  contributions  of  the  fur  seal  to  human  clothing, 
I  mention  the  successful  protective  measures  now  being  carried  out 
through  international  treaty,  and  call  attention  to  the  certainty,  almost, 
in  the  light  of  the  history  of  the  fur  seal  industry,  that  the  herds  of  this 
useful  animal  might  be  made  productive  in  number  of  pelts  beyond 
what  they  have  ever  been,  even  before  their  original  depletion  while 
the}^  were  under  Russian  ownership.  The  fur  seal  comes  nearer, 
perhaps,  to  domestication  than  any  other  oceanic  animal. 

The  only  other  latent  source  of  human  clothing  from  marine  life, 
which  I  mention,  is  that  of  leather  from  whales,  porpoises  and  sharks. 
Important  developments  in  this  direction  seem  likely. 

Although  several  other  human  needs  to  which,  as  pointed  out,  the 
animal  and  plant  life  of  the  Pacific  are  capable  of  contributing,  ought 
each  to  receive  a  few  paragraphs  at  least,  in  even  a  summary  paper 
like  this,  the  space  at  my  disposal  compels  me  to  pss  them  by  with  only 
a  lump  reference  to  them. 


5.  THE  QUESTION  OF  PERMANENCE  OF  SUCH  RESOURCES 

This  question  comes  up  immediately  when  one  considers  seriously 
the  utilization  of  these  resources  on  an  enlarged  scale. 

Nothing  is  more  obvious  than  that  man’s  control  over  the  animal, 
or  even  the  plant  life,  of  the  sea  has  not  reached,  indeed,  almost  cer¬ 
tainly  never  can  reach,  any  such  effectiveness  as  that  which  he  already 
exercises  over  the  useful  species  of  the  land.  Except  for  certain 
actually  and  potentially  important  animals  and  plants,  as  the  salmon, 
shad,  oyster,  clam,  lobster,  crab,  abalone,  and  possibly  some  algae, 
which  inhabit  the  littoral,  or  near-shore  zone,  there  is  no  present  out¬ 
look  for  man  to  do  much  in  the  way  of  domesticating  and  breeding 
marine  species.  His  utilization  of  nature’s  bounties  in  this  realm 
will  probably  continue  to  be,  as  it  always  has  been,  chiefly  through  Ids 
labors  as  a  harvester,  rather  than  as  a  cultivator.  So  far  as  the  great 
oceanic  waters  are  concerned,  there  is  not  much  prospect  for  aquicul- 
ture  comparable  with  agriculture. 

As  to  the  main  resources  of  the  sea,  industry  and  science  are 
occupied  with  native  or  wild  species  almost  exclusively,  rather  than 
with  artificial  or  tame  species,  as  they  are  in  agriculture.  In  other 
words,  the  problems  dealt  with  are  zoological  and  botanical  in  the 
strict  sense  far  more  than  are  those  with  which  agriculture  deals. 

10 


This  means  that  the  industries  concerned  with  the  utilization  of 
marine  life  are  much  more  problems  of  conservation  of  wild  life  than 
is  agriculture,  and  hence  must  occupy  themselves  much  more  with 
such  purely  zoological  and  botanical  subjects  as  geographical  distri¬ 
bution,  breeding  habits,  migration,  ecological  interdependence  and 
succession,  and  taxonomy. 

With  these  general  principles  in  mind,  we  can  now  state  in  general 
terms  what  the  question  of  permanence  of  the  food  and  other  economic 
resources  of  the  sea  really  is.  It  is  a  question  of  the  geographic  range, 
density  of  population,  environic  conditions,  and  propagating  hahits 
of  the  various  species  figuring  in  the  industries. 

6.  SOME  TYPICAL  QUESTIONS  OE  ABUNDANCE  AND  CONSERVATION 

For  the  rest,  we  touch  upon  some  of  the  main  problems  of  supply, 
approaching  these  through  the  zoological  principles  just  mentioned ; 
and  some  of  the  legal  and  political  problems  that  would  necessarily 
be  involved  in  protective  measures,  should  such  be  found  useful. 

First,  I  illustrate  from  Pacific  Ocean  experience,  brief  and  meager 
as  that  has  been,  something  of  what  zoological  research  has  already 
done  in  connection  with  fisheries  and  kindred  industries. 

The  apparently  effective  hold  government  has  at  last  secured  on 
the  problem  of  the  Alaska  fur  seals  rests  mainly  on  the  investigations 
of  Elliott,  Merriam,  Townsend,  True,  Evermann,  Jordan,  Stejneger, 
Lucas,  Clark,  Osgood,  and  Parker,  confining  the  enumeration  to 
American  zoologists  who  have  studied  the  animals  during  the  period 
of  their  American  ownership. 

The  basis  for  an  intelligent  general  management  of  the  salmon 
industry  is  securely  laid  in  the  scientific  researches  of  Jordan,  Gilbert, 
Evermann,  Kutter,  Babcock  and  others.  The  practical  significance  of 
scientific  knowledge  for  fisheries  receives  striking  illustration  in  the 
salmon  industry  by  the  foreseeing,  months  beforehand,  of  the  probable 
small  run  of  the  sockeye  salmon  at  Puget  Sound  during  the  summer 
of  1917.  That  the  run  of  this  species,  which  has  been  the  backbone  of 
the  salmon  canning  industry  on  the  Sound,  is  especially  large  every 
fourth  year,  is  so  well  confirmed  as  to  be  accepted  as  a  rule  for  guiding 
the  plans  of  the  operators.  Since  the  last  large  run  was  in  1913,  the 
next  large  run  was  due  last  summer,  1917.  But  in  1913  a  great  earth 
slide  on  the  Fraser  Eiver,  the  chief  spawning  stream  of  the  species, 
interfered  so  seriously  with  the  ascent  of  the  salmon  as  to  arouse  appre¬ 
hension  lest  the  special  run  of  1917  would  be  prevented. 

Because  of  the  comprehensive  investigations  on  the  habits  of  this 
and  other  species  of  the  Sound  region  by  C.  H.  Gilbert  and  J.  P. 
Babcock,  it  was  possible  to  submit  this  apprehension  to  searching  ex¬ 
amination.  This  was  done  and  confirmation  was  reached  that  the  extra 


11 


harvest  otherwise  due  in  1917  would  not  materialize ;  and  such  proved 
to  be  the  case,  as  the  estimated  sockeye  pack  for  the  season  of  1917 
is  onfy  170,000*  cases,  which  represents  only  25  per  cent  of  the  sockeye 
pack  of  1913.  Although  I  have  no  information  on  the  point,  probably 
those  interested  in  the  industry  were  able,  through  this  forecast,  to 
mitigate  their  loss  to  some  extent. 

Another  example  of  the  importance  of  zoological  investigation  for 
industries  based  on  marine  animals  is  furnished  by  the  whales  of  the 
northeast  Pacific.  Were  these  mammals  to  come  into  new  importance 
as  sources  of  articles  needed  by  man,  as  they  bid  fair  to  do,  the  problem 
of  their  conservation  would  come  up  immediately.  We  possess  con¬ 
siderable  scientific  knowledge  from  which  to  start  for  intelligent  action 
in  this  behalf.  This  knowledge  is  due,  interestingly  enough,  to  the 
circumstance  that  a  practical  whaler  of  the  former  whaling  era  turned 
zoologist  and  did  a  masterly  piece  of  research  work  on  the  animals 
concerned.  I  refer  to  Captain  Charles  M.  Scammon  and  his  mono¬ 
graph,  ^^The  Marine  Mammals  of  the  North-western  Coast  of  North 
America.”  With  such  aid  as  he  could  get  from  professional  zoologists, 
notably  W.  H.  Dali,  Scammon  produced  a  work  that  must  elicit  the 
admiration  of  every  true  student  of  animal  life,  and  will  never  become 
much  out  of  date  no  matter  how  many  centuries  the  science  of  zoology 
continues  to  advance. 

Finally,  we  cite  the  carefully  worked-out  demonstration  by  W.  F. 
Thompson  that  the  halibut  fishery  of  the  northwest  coast  is  surely 
undergoing  depletion  and  the  seemingly  rational  conservation  measures 
proposed  by  him. 

So  we  resume  consideration  of  the  question  of  permanence  of  food 
and  other  maritime  resources  with  a  clearer  perception  that  the  prob¬ 
lem  is  one  the  treatment  of  which  depends  largely  on  zoological  knowl¬ 
edge. 

Let  us  notice  a  few  fundamental  zoological  principles  applicable  to 
the  problem.  First,  every  animal  and  plant  species  whatever  is  ter¬ 
ritorially  limited  at  any  given  time.  Perhaps  this  seems  so  like  a 
truism  as  to  render  mention  of  it  unnecessary.  But  active  attention 
to  it  is  important  both  on  scientific  and  industrial  grounds ;  and  that 
as  a  practical  fact  it  receives  scant  consideration  by  most  persons  I 
have  had  frequent  opportunity  to  notice. 

A  second  of  these  principles  is  that,  speaking  broadly,  the  number 
of  individuals  of  a  species  existing  at  one  time  varies  inversely  as  the 
size  of  the  individuals.  This  rule  is  subject  to  great  modification,  but 
if  taken  with  the  intelligent  caution  essential  to  the  application  of 
nearly  all  rules*  of  organic  beings,  it  is  unquestionably  a  useful  guide. 
In  the  absence  of  definite  knowledge  to  the  contrary  we  should  expect 

*  Pacific  Fisherman,  November,  1917. 


12 


the  total  number  of  the  huge  sulphur  bottom  whale  to  be  less  than  the 
total  number  of  porpoises ;  the  total  number  of  porpoises  to  be  less  than 
the  total  number  of  tuna ;  the  total  tuna  population  to  be  less  than  the 
total  sardine  population;  the  grand  total  of  sardines  to  be  less  than 
the  grand  total  of  shrimps,  and  so  on  through  the  whole  animal  king¬ 
dom.  The  applicability  of  this  principle  is  obvious.  By  way  of  illus¬ 
tration  there  is  more  reason  for  solicitude  other  things  being  equal, 
about  the  supply  of  tuna  than  of  the  sardine.  Other  things  being 
equal,  there  is  more  likelihood  of  depleting  the  supply  of  halibut  than 
of  sole ;  and  so  on.  Confirmations  of  this  rule  are  probably  numerous. 
The  diminishing  halibut  supply  of  the  northwest  coast  is  in  point. 
But  one  of  the  most  striking  cases  is  furnished  by  the  whales. 

The  whaling  industry  of  the  United  States  when  at  its  climax,  about 
1846,  constituted  an  appreciable  fraction  of  the  whole  industrial  life 
of  the  nation,  as  is  recorded  in  the  number  of  animals  taken.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  statistics  given  by  Scammon,  between  1835  and  1876  more  than 
292,000  whales  were  destroyed.  But  this  destruction  went  well  toward 
depopulating  the  sea  of  these  great  beasts.  That  730  ships  with  an 
aggregate  tonnage  of  233,189  tons,  and  70,000  people  were  engaged  in 
the  business  in  1846,  objectifies  sharply  the  magnitude  of  that  one 
productive  capacity  of  the  sea.  The  practical  lesson  for  us  will  not 
be  missed :  If  whaling  should  again  become  a  significant  industry  on 
our  coast,  restrictive  measures  would  be  necessary  almost  at  once  if  the 
supply  is  to  be  kept  up  to  even  its  present  standard,  which  is  surely 
much  below  what  it  was  before  the  great  depletion  due  to  the  former 
period  of  California  shore  whaling. 

The  principle  governing  supply  next  to  be  mentioned  is  that  of 
extent  of  territory  inhabited  by  a  species.  This  varies  enormously 
with  different  species  of  animals,  being  almost  world-wide  with  many 
marine  species,  especially  of  the  lower  orders ;  and  quite  restricted  with 
many  others.  Other  things  equal,  obviously  a  species  widely  distri¬ 
buted  would  be  more  abundant  in  individuals  and  hence  less  subject 
to  depletion  through  capture  by  man,  than  one  of  restricted  distribu¬ 
tion.  Speaking  generally,  high-seas,  or  pelagic  species  are  much  more 
widely  distributed  than  are  species  confined  to  coastal  waters,  whether 
living  on  the  bottom  or  as  free  swimmers.  And  it  is  universally  recog¬ 
nized  that  the  pelagic  species  of  fishes  are  pre-eminently  the  ones  least 
liable  to  suffer  from  over-fishing. 

But  the  two  principles,  size  of  individuals  and  geographic  range, 
are  so  inextricably  connected  with  the  rate  of  propagation  that  neither 
can  really  be  considered  apart  from  the  whole  round  of  reproductive 
and  growth  phenomena.  The  chief  reason  for  mentioning  them  sepa¬ 
rately  is  that  though  the  whole  reproduction  complex  has  to  be  taken 
into  account  finally,  it  often  happens  that  an  investigation  of  a  species 
reaches  quite  full  knowledge  under  one  head  before  it  knows  mucli 

13 


under  other  heads;  and  by  having*  these  principles  in  mind  useful 
conclusions  may  be  drawn. 

Take  for  example  the  case  of  the  California  gray  whale.  The  fact 
of  its  being  so  large  would  of  itself  be  sufficient  to  justify  the  sup¬ 
position  that  its  numbers  are  small  as  compared  with  any  species  the 
size  of  whose  individuals  is  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  size  of  the 
whale.  But  supplementing  this  knowledge  as  to  size  with  the  fact, 
discovered  with  much  more  difficulty,  that  its  geographical  range  is 
small  as  compared  with  the  range  of  most  whales  (it  is  restricted 
seemingly  to  the  coastal  waters  of  western  North  America),  puts  an 
additional  curtailment  on  its  probable  total  numbers,  and  makes 
it,  by  so  much,  more  liable  to  extinction  through  unchecked  pursuit, 
regardless  of  whether  we  know  its  breeding  habits  or  not.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  this  species  seems  to  have  been  almost  exterminated  by  the 
previous  whaling  period  and  measures  should  be  taken  at  once  to  ascer¬ 
tain  its  present  abundance  and  to  regulate  the  killing  of  it  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  the  findings. 

We  now  turn  to  the  more  general  problem  of  quantity  and  exhausti- 
bility  of  economically  important  marine  species. 

The  diversity  of  view  on  this  subject,  even  among  those  who  have 
studied  it  extensively,  is  surprising.  One  of  the  most  distinguished 
American  zoologists  and  students  of  fisheries,  Spencer  Baird,  wrote  at 
the  conclusion  of  an  extensive  inquiry  into  the  fishing  industries  of 
the  New  England  coast :  ^  ‘  It  is  difficult  to  point  out  any  locality  where 
near  the  shores  in  the  New  England  states,  at  least,  under  the  most 
favorable  view  of  the  case  the  fish  are  quite  as  plentiful  as  they  were 
some  years  ago.” 

Summarizing  the  conclusions  drawn  from  a  ten-year  continuous 
experimental  inquiry  carried  on  under  the  Sea  Fisheries  Amendment 
Act  of  Scotland  on  the  quantitative  effects  of  steam  trawling,  Gar- 
stang  and  Mitchell  say  :  ‘  ‘  The  results  of  this  classical  experiment  point 
strongly  to  the  presumptions  ( 1 )  that  trawling  operations  in  the  open 
sea  have  now  exceeded  the  point  at  which  their  effect  on  the  supply  of 
eggs  and  fry  for  the  upkeep  of  the  flat  fisheries  is  inappreciable ;  and 
(2)  that  protection  of  in-shore  areas  alone  is  insufficient  to  check  the 
impoverishment  caused  by  over-fishing  off-shore.  ’  ’ 

Marcel  S.  Herubel,  in  ^^Sea  Fisheries:  their  Treasures  and 
Toilers,”  expresses  the  unqualified  view,  supported  by  considerable 
statistical  evidence,  that  the  fisheries  of  various  parts  of  the  French 
coast,  in  both  the  Atlantic  and  the  Mediterranean,  are  being  impover¬ 
ished  by  the  industries,  the  statement  having  reference  mainly  to 
bottom-dwelling  species. 

Perhaps  the  opinion  on  this  matter  most  widely  known  among 
English  speaking  peoples  is  Huxley’s.  His  conclusion,  based  on  ex¬ 
perience  gained  as  a  member  of  various  commissions  for  inquiring  into 

14 


the  conditions  of  British  fisheries,  was,  in  brief,  that  while  certain 
shore  and  river  fisheries  like  those  of  the  salmon  and  the  oyster,  are 
unquestionably  exhaustible,  with  fisheries  of  the  open  seas  the  case  is 
different.  '‘I  believe  then,”  he  said,  '‘that  the  cod  fishery,  the  herring 
fishery,  the  pilchard  fishery,  the  mackerel  fishery,  and  probably  all 
the  great  sea-fisheries,  are  inexhaustible ;  that  is  to  say,  that  nothing 
we  do  seriously  affects  the  number  of  the  fish.  And  any  attempt  to 
regulate  these  fisheries  seems  consequently,  from  the  nature  of  the 
seas,  useless.”  (Inaugural  Address:  Fisheries  Exhibition,  London, 
1883.)  The  observations  and  calculations  given  by  Huxley  in  sup¬ 
port  of  this  opinion  are  undoubtedly  weighty.  A  single  pair  of  cod¬ 
fish,  for  example,  of  the  coast  of  Norway,  he  points  out,  on  the  basis 
of  data  which  seems  trustworthy,  would  considerably  more  than  supply 
the  whole  of  the  codfish  taken  by  all  the  Norwegian  fisheries  put 
together  in  one  season. 

And  a  still  more  recent  authority,  W.  C.  McIntosh  (The  Resources 
of  the  Sea,  London,  1899,  reaches  a  conclusion  against  exhaustibility 
still  more  sweeping  than  Huxley ’s :  "So  far  as  history  and  so  far  as 
observations  at  the  present  time  go,  there  is  no  ground  for  alarm  in 
regard  to  the  permanence  of  the  food-fishes”  (p.  234).  And  this 
applies  to  the  sole  and  other  fiat  fishes  near  shore  as  well  as  to  the 
high  seas  species  mentioned  by  Huxley.  McIntosh’s  conclusions  are 
noteworthy  because  based  to  a  considerable  extent  on  a  re-examination 
of  the  same  data  from  which  a  report  of  contrary  tenor  had  been  drawn 
by  the  Fisheries  Board  for  Scotland. 

And  so  experienced  fisheries  authorities  as  the  Norwegians,  Hjort 
and  Dahl,  say  (Report  on  Norwegian  Fishery  and  Marine  Investiga¬ 
tions,  Vol.  I,  1900,  no.  1)  :  "It  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  any 
decline  can  take  place  in  the  stock  of  fish  which,  in  any  case  during  a 
great  portion  of  its  existence,  belongs  to  the  open  sea.  No  mention 
has  ever  been  made  of  any  decrease  in  the  yield  of  the  bank  round-fish 
fisheries  of  the  country.  .  .  .  The  general  desire,  a  desire  which  re¬ 
ceives  unanimous  support,  is  certainly  only  that  of  enlarging  them  to 
the  greatest  possible  extent.” 

"The  Lofoten  fisheries,  which  have  been  carried  on  for  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  years,  certainly  exhibited  in  former  days  as  great 
variations  in  their  yield  as  they  do  now,  and  no  proof  whatever  exists 
of  lesser  abundance,  now  than  formerly,  of  the  cod  which  visit  the 
shores  of  the  Lofotens,  and  very  many  other  parts  of  our  coast  during 
the  spring”  (p.  180). 

On  the  whole  the  fullest  and  most  trustworthy  experiences  the 
world  has  so  far  had  on  marine  fisheries  seem  to  indicate  that  while 
depletion  of  various  kinds  of  near-shore  and  sea-and-river  inhabiting 
species,  is  likely  to  occur  in  particular  localities,  with  species  which 


15 


belong  primarily  to  the  open  ocean,  such  a  result  is  practically  beyond 
the  power  of  man. 

The  general  conception  about  the  oceanic  species  is  that  their  num¬ 
ber  and  the  number  of  their  eggs  and  young  is  so  vast,  and  belong  to 
so  vast  a  system  of  interdependent  organisms — a  system  in  which  so 
many  kinds  are  at  once  feeding  upon  and  being  fed  upon  by  one 
another,  that  the  little  that  man  can  do,  either  by  way  of  destroying 
or  replenishing,  is  negligible.  Otherwise  expressed,  the  ^'balance  of 
nature”  is  on  so  prodigious  a  scale  in  the  sea  that  man,  operating 
under  the  limitations  imposed  upon  him  by  sea-faring  conditions,  can 
have  no  effect.  His  interventions  are  powerless  to  change  the  course 
of  nature  in  this  as  they  are  to  change  the  tides,  is  McIntosh’s  way  of 
stating  the  view.  The  ocean  is  looked  upon  as  a  mighty  reservoir  of 
life  as  well  as  of  water,  the  former  being  little,  if  any  more  exhaustible 
bv  man  than  the  latter. 

7.  IS  THE  NOETH  PACIFIC  AS  PRODUCTIVE  FROM  THE  FISHERIES 
STANDPOINT  AS  THE  NORTH  ATLANTIC? 

Coming  back  to  our  subject  proper,  that  of  the  resources  of  the 
North  Pacific,  I  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  conclusions  set  forth 
above  relative  to  the  inexhaustibility  of  oceanic  fisheries  are  based 
almost  entirely  on  experiences  in  the  Atlantic ;  and  that  the  conditions 
presented  by  the  Pacific  are  sufficiently  different  from  those  of  the 
Atlantic  to  make  it  unjustifiable  to  apply  to  Pacific  fisheries  conclu¬ 
sions  which  may  hold  for  Atlantic  fisheries. 

I  am  anxious  not  to  be  misunderstood  at  this  point.  The  above 
statement  should  not  be  taken  to  mean  that  I  consider  it  very  probable 
that  the  commercial  fishes  of  the  Pacific  are  less  in  bulk  than  are  those 
of  the  Atlantic.  I  want  to  go  no  farther  than  is  indicated  by  the  exact 
language.  Oceanographicall}^  the  North  Pacific  is  a  quite  different 
body  of  water  from  the  north  Atlantic ;  and  the  difference  is  of  such 
character  as  to  make  it  possible,  indeed  rather  likely,  that  the  North 
Pacific  is  on  the  whole  somewhat  less  prolific  of  life  than  the  cor¬ 
responding  part  of  the  Atlantic. 

All  I  want  is  to  convince  those  interested  in  the  fisheries  of  the 
Pacific  coast  of  North  America,  and  scientific  men  generally,  that  the 
question  raised  is  one  which,  from  both  economic  and  scientific  con¬ 
siderations,  is  of  much  interest,  and  indicates  the  need  of  far  more 
extensive  knowledge  of  the  Pacific  and  its  life  than  we  now  possess. 

Before  enumerating  the  conditions  which  suggest  such  a  difference 
of  productivity  of  the  two  oceans,  I  mention  that  some  naturalists  have 
surmised  such  a  thing  on  the  basis  of  more  special  considerations  than 
those  here  set  forth.  Thus  Steuer:  Since  the  neritic  (near-shore) 

])lankton  flows  from  the  shore  toward  the  high  seas  like  an  inexhaust- 

16 


ible  stream  the  seas  and  portions  of  the  seas  northward  from  the 
ecpiator  appear  richer  than  those  southward  therefrom;  likewise  the 
Atlantic  seems  richer  than  the  ^ great  ocean’  ”  (A.  Steuer,  Plankton- 
kunde,  p.  457).  And  some  of  the  naturalists  of  California  who  have 
had  first-hand  experience  with  the  plankton  off  the  California  coast 
have  an  impression,  vague  to  be  sure,  to  the  -same  effect.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  is  evidence  of  rather  exceptional  riches  of  plankton 
in  some  parts  of  the  North  Pacific.  Viewed  from  any  direction,  the 
need  of  extensive  researches  is  manifest. 

Stated  in  barest  outline,  the  oceanographic  facts  which  warrant 
such  conjecture  about  the  productiveness  of  the  Pacific  are:  Not  only 
is  tlie  North  Pacific  a  much  larger  expanse  of  water  than  the  North 
Atlantic  it  is  a  more  uniformly  deep  body ;  and  since  the  principle 
seems  well  established  that  although  there  is  no  part  of  the  ocean  too 
deep  or  too  remote  from  the  continents  to  be  inhabited  by  animals,  the 
deeper  the  water  the  less  the  bottom  population  per  unit  area.  There 
are  many  and  important  exceptions  to  this  rule,  but  its  general  truth 
is  indicated  by  the  quantitative  study  of  many  dredgings  and  trawl- 
ings  from  widely  separated  parts  of  the  ocean.  And  the  suggestioi: 
based  on  these  hydrographic  considerations,  that  the  bottom  fauna 
of  the  Pacific  may  be  somewhat  less  abundant  than  that  of  the  Atlantic, 
is  confirmed,  perhaps,  by  the  fact  that  the  bottom  deposits  of  the 
Pacific  are,  according  to  our  present  knowledge,  somewhat  less  rich  in 
organic  remains  than  are  those  of  the  Atlantic. 

But  if  there  is  such  a  difference  between  the  bottom  faunas  of  the 
two  oceans  it  may  be  reflected  in  the  pelagic  fauna,  since  it  is  estab¬ 
lished  that  there  is  more  or  less  interdependence  between  the  two.  One 
aspect  of  this  interdependence,  that,  namely,  of  the  to-and-from  shore 
migration  of  various  pelagic  species  of  commercially  important  fishes, 
the  Scombroids,  for  example,  is  especially  significant  from  the  economic 
standpoint. 

But  the  most  striking  oceanographic  differences  between  the  north¬ 
ern  parts  of  the  two  oceans  are  such  as  to  suggest  more  direct  influence 
on  the  pelagic  than  on  the  bottom  life. 

The  first  of  these  to  be  mentioned  is  the  fact  that  the  North  Pacific 
is  so  much  more  nearly  severed  from  the  Arctic  than  is  the  Atlantic. 
That  tlie  colder  seas  are  richer  in  plankton  than  the  warmer  seas  seems 
definitely  established.  Numerous  investigators  of  the  pelagic  life  of 
the  north  Atlantic  (Brandt,  Nansen,  Nathansohn)  have  dwelt  upon 
the  great  productivity  of  the  arctic  polar  currents.  The  East  Green¬ 
land  current  which  brings  arctic  water  into  the  North  Atlantic,  and 
into  the  North  Sea  past  the  north  of  Iceland ;  and  the  Labrador  cur¬ 
rent  which  brings  arctic  water  far  down  the  east  coast  of  North 
America,  are  without  counterparts  in  the  North  Pacific.  Even  the 
Oya  siwo  of  the  east  coast  of  Asia  is  not  really  an  artic  current. 

17 


But  more  important  than  the  currents,  according  to  some  authori¬ 
ties,  is  drift  ice.  That  this  reaches  well  into  the  Atlantic  off  the 
American  coast  and  well  into  the  North  Sea  off  the  European,  is  gen¬ 
erally  known.  The  Pacific  receives  no  drift  ice  at  all  from  the  Arctic, 
and  very  little,  relatively,  from  any  source  in  the  northern  hemisphere. 

Why  cold  water,  cold  currents,  and  drift  ice  make  the  sea  more 
productive,  need  not  be  considered  for  the  purposes  of  this  paper. 
The  question  has  not  as  yet  been  answered  quite  satisfactorily,  ])ut  as 
to  the  fact  there  seems  no  doubt. 

Another  oceanographic  peculiarity  of  the  North  Pacific  which 
probably  has  important  bearings  on  its  planktonic  productivity,  is  the 
quantity  of  river  water  it  receives. 

One  of  the  striking  features  of  the  North  American  continent  is 
the  fact  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  its  drainage  is  toward  the  east, 
into  the  Atlantic.  At  least  two-thirds  of  the  area  of  British  North 
America,  the  United  States,  and  Mexico  drain  into  the  Atlantic,  and 
the  average  annual  precipitation  is  probably  considerably  greater  per 
unit  area  for  the  Atlantic  than  for  the  Pacific  catchment  region. 

It  is  definitely  known  that  rivers,  especially  those  whose  courses 
are  through  areas  of  rich  land  vegetation,  contribute  to  the  fertility  of 
the  sea  by  the  organic  matter  carried  by  their  waters.  But  it  is  a  con¬ 
spicuous  fact  that  the  stretch  of  Pacific  from  San  Francisco  Bay  south¬ 
ward  to  Cape  San  Lucas,  the  southern  limit  of  Lower  California,  a 
distance  of  some  1100  miles,  does  not  receive  a  single  river  of  conse¬ 
quence,  the  adjacent  land  being  exceptionally  arid. 

Undoubtedly  the  problem  of  the  place  filled  by  nitrifying  and 
denitrifying  bacteria  in  the  ^  ^  metabolism  ”  of  the  ocean,  especially  in 
regions  which  receive  large  quantities  of  organic  matter  from  the  land, 
is  very  imperfectly  known.  But  it  would  seem  evident  that  two  oceanic- 
areas  so  different  as  those  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  contiguous 
to  the  North  American  continent  in  respect  to  the  quantity  of  fresh 
water  received  by  each ;  in  respect  to  the  difference  of  circulation  in 
each ;  and  in  respect  to  the  amount  of  evaporation  from  each,  would 
present  important  differences  in  the  totality  of  their  plant  and  animal 
life.  And  the  phenomenon  of  up  welling  water  on  the  California  and 
Lower  California  coast  introduces  a  unique  factor  into  the  problem  for 
the  American  Pacific  region,  which  may  prove  of  high  economic  as  well 
as  scientific  importance,  especially,  perhaps,  from  its  fertilizing  effect 
on  the  waters.  This  phenomenon  is  without  a  counterpart,  apparently, 
in  the  North  Atlantic. 

If  the  question  be  asked  whether  there  are  indications  in  the  pelagic 
life  itself  that  the  North  Pacific  is  somewhat  less  productive  than  the 
North  Atlantic,  attention  may  be  called  to  two  facts  which  may  be  so 
interpreted.  These  are  the  relatively  slight  development  of  the  Sar¬ 
gasso  sea  in  the  Pacific;  and  the  great  area  of  ^‘red  clay’’  ])ottom 

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deposit  in  the  North  Pacific  in  contrast  with  the  “globigerina  ooze” 
as  the  corresponding  deposit  in  the  Atlantic.  Since  these  bottom 
materials  are  held  to  be  the  result  of  the  deposition  through  countless 
ages  of  material  from  the  superincumbent  water,  and  since  ‘  Aed  clay,” 
the  characteristic  deposit  of  the  North  Pacific,  is  predominantly  in¬ 
organic,  while  the  characteristic  deposit  of  the  North  Atlantic  is  pre¬ 
dominantly  organic,  it  is  natural  to  conclude  that  the  Atlantic  has 
been  producing  somewhat  more  organisms  through  the  ages  than  has 
the  Pacific.  Undoubtedly  other  factors  might  come  in  to  modify  these 
indications.  For  instance  more  volcanic  activity  in  and  around  the 
margins  of  the  Pacific  may  have  increased  the  amount  of  atmospheric 
dust  which  has  fallen  upon  the  water,  and  thus  account  for  the  ^Aed 
clay”  bottom.  But  again  it  might  be  supposed  that  this  inorganic 
excess  for  the  Pacific  would  be  met  by  the  relatively  greater  inorganic 
sediment  of  Atlantic  water,  due  to  the  greater  quantity  of  river  water 
poured  into  it.  And  still  other  alternative  possibilities  are  presented 
by  the  known  differences. 

8.  EXTENSIVE  SCIENTIFIC  EESEAECH  THE  ONLY  WAY  TO  ANSWEE 

THE  ABOVE  QUESTION 

Enough  has  been  said,  however  sketchily,  to  make  certain  the  purely 
scientific  interest  of  the  oceanographic  and  biologic  problems  of  the 
North  Pacific.  But  now  that  the  entire  northeastern  portion  of  the 
area  has  come  into  economic  prominence  from  the  development  of 
fisheries  and  kelp  industries,  the  problems  become  doubly  important 
and  call  more  insistently  than  ever  for  investigations  on  so  compre¬ 
hensive  a  scale  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  any  other  support  and 
control  than  those  of  national  governments. 

Nor  do  the  scientific  and  oceanographic  problems  thus  far  outlined 
comprise  all  those  that  pertain  to  the  Pacific. 

Other  fields  of  science  would,  or  might,  participate  in  such  explora- 
tional  studies  as  are  suggested. 

Undoubtedly  various  meteorological  problems  of  importance,  espe¬ 
cially  in  their  bearing  on  the  climate  of  North  America,  could  be 
investigated  in  connection  with  the  undertaking.  Reference  to  some 
of  these  has  lately  been  made  by  Dr.  Charles  P.  Marvin,  Chief  of  the 
U.  S.  Weather  Bureau,  in  supporting  an  earlier  proposal  for  exploring 
the  Pacific.  Speaking  of  certain  much  needed  investigations  on  the 
movements  and  stratification  of  the  upper  air.  Dr.  Marvin  said:  ^^No 
other  observations  are  more  urgently  needed  in  meteorology  at  the 
present  time  than  these,  and  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  better  field 
for  conducting  such  explorations  on  a  broad  and  all-piclusive  plan  and 
scale  than  the  Pacific.”  And  1  know  from  conversations  with  several 
meteorologists  who  have  given  attention  to  west  American  meteorology 

19 


i 

\ 


that  there  are  other  problems  than  that  mentioned  by  Dr.  Marvin^ 
which  calls  for  studies  in  the  central  and  northern  North  Pacific 
especially. 

Geodesy  and  geology  are  other  sciences  some  of  whose  problems 
seem  specially  susceptible  of  illumination  from  investigations  in  the 
Pacific.  Professor  John  F.  Hay  ford  has  lately  presented  cogent 
reasons  why  the  Pacific  is  more  important  than  any  of  the  oceans  for 
gravity  observations  at  sea.  (The  papers  of  both  Marvin  and  Hay- 
ford  are  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences  for 
1916,  Marvin’s,  p.  421,  and  Hayford’s,  p.  394.) 

And  this  does  not  exhaust  the  list  of  sciences  which  could  join  with 
benefit  in  such  researches. 

Finally,  in  order  that  one  of  the  most  vital,  though  least  dwelt- 
upon,  matters  of  the  paper  shall  not  be  lost  sight  of,  I  conclude  as  I 
began,  with  a  reference  to  the  essentially  international  character  of 
most  of  the  subjects  presented. 

The  possible  benefits,  on  account  of  the  economic  and  scientific  bear¬ 
ing  alone,  which  might  be  realized  from  the  execution  of  a  project  like 
that  contemplated,  are  undoubtedly  great.  But  I  believe  those  latent 
in  it,  as  bearing  on  the  relations  among  the  peoples  and  governments 
which  ought  to  be,  and  from  the  nature  of  things  would  be,  implicated, 
are  not  less  great. 

The  interests  of  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  and  Mexico  are 
particularly  close.  But  those  of  Japan  are  by  no  means  remote  and 
inconsiderable.  Nor  can  those  of  Russia  be  ignored. 


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